


A HoneySweet Evening

by majesticbutter



Category: Uprooted - Naomi Novik
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 02:09:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9101674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/majesticbutter/pseuds/majesticbutter
Summary: Nieshka gets tired with The Dragon's moodiness. Her loneliness isn't helped by talking to her new bee friends, so she takes it upon herself to make him feel better with one of Jaga's spells.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [athenasdragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/athenasdragon/gifts).



In a timeline where there is less of a focus on war and more focus on THE SHIP!!  
Nieshka POV

I thought for sure I would hate it here, but the longer I’m here, the more I find to like. There’s one part of living here that I’ll never grow to like.

Nieshka woke up and made her way down the stairs to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. While the bread was baking she sat at the table and practiced my illusion spell. Even though The Dragon always harassed her to practice she never actually did. This was an exception. It felt so strange to practice this spell with him the other day. She wanted to recapture the feeling, but it was nowhere near the same. It was more frustrating than anything. The petals looked soft and plump and it smelled wonderful. The flower was beautiful, no doubt, but the feeling just wasn’t the same. She let the illusion drop and continued making the breakfast.  
When she reached the library, it was empty. Normally she left the tray and ran to her room so he wouldn’t try to sneak in any spurr the moment training, but the messy piles of books strewn across the tables caught her attention. The Dragon was usually more organized than this. She took a closer look at the book on the top of the pile. It had a lot of numbers and measurements for ingredients. It looked like it was a recipe for a spell or potion or something of a combination of the two. The book underneath it had a similar recipe, but in much smaller lettering. There was a smaller pile of books at the other end of the table. The book on top had a vibrant picture one the open pages that she could see from across the room. She was instinctively drawn to it. The picture was of a deep blue flower with vibrant green streaks running the length of the petals. She stared at the picture a moment studying the details. She took a step back and tried the illusion spell again, this time with the flower from the book. It was difficult to put the picture into specific details that she could imagine and recreate, but she thought that if she concentrated , she could pull it off. She was most was mesmerized by the iridescent green stripes and focused quite a bit on making sure those came out the way she imagined they would.  
The product was a bit sloppy, but amazing. She could feel the pride bubbling up in her chest, but there was no intense feeling of connection. It made sense. She couldn’t feel connected to anything if she was just working alone. SHe didn’t want to spend more time with The Dragon. She didn’t want to feel connected to him. But she did want to feel connected to something. She stepped to the window and slumped onto the sill. The flower glittered in the sun light and a little bee floated in to inspect it. Its round body landed gently on one of the petals and its antennae started probing the stalks coming from the center. Nieshka giggled accidentally jostling the flower. The bee jolted into the air. “OH! Sorry.” she murmured not really knowing why she was talking to a bee.  
She thought absent-mindedly about bees as she watched it climb back into the fake flower. “Being a bee wouldn’t be so bad. Flowers and nature being your whole life. I could live like that.” she thought out loud and imagined rustling around in the flower herself.  
She saw the inside the same way the bee might. “If I was a bee, I wouldn’t have to be cooped up in this tower with that dusty old windbag.”  
“And if I was a wizard in training, I might watch what I say about the person in charge of my training.” The Dragon said staley from the doorway.  
Nieshka ripped herself out of the flower and let it dissolve snapping her arms to her sides. “You’re not a bee and I’m not in the mood to deal with you.” he said exasperated.  
He looked down at the breakfast that had gone somewhat cold. Nieshka expected some harsh comment to be shot at her, but he only looked away and started gathering books up off the table. Nieshka felt a bad for insulting him while he was already feeling down. She started gathering up some of the books on her end. “No, no, leave that one. ..Leave that one too.... Leave th-...Just. Just leave.”  
Nieshka could see the strain behind his eyes. She left without saying anything and went up to her room. She closed the door behind her and flung herself onto the bed. Staring out at the fields below always made her feel better even if they deepened the pit in her stomach when she thought about her family she left behind. And Kasia. Nieshka turned away and looked down at her soiled hem. The bee that had been pollinating her flower down in the library had followed her up to her room and was hovering by her foot. There was a little bit of jam splattered on her shoe from breakfast. “Guess I did connect with someone.” she chuckled to herself.  
The bee buzzed up to her face and bumped into her forehead before floating out the window and out into the fields below. “I hope to see her again. It’s nice to have someone around who doesn’t demand so much.” as soon as she said it though, she felt bad for The Dragon. He seemed to be going through a lot today.

Even if The Dragon had been reclusive and sullen, Nieshka felt a bit relieved to not have lessons. She enjoyed the respite for a few days, but started to get worried after five days of setting his tray in the library and being ushered out without a word. She tried to make light of it. “Enjoying our vacation?” she whispered to her little bee friend.  
The bee was buzzing around the small garden Nieska had made in the window. She’d found come bulbs and seeds in the cellar and decided to make a make something the bee could actually enjoy. She could imagine how big her tiny garden looked to the bee. For a second she saw the flowers from her bee’s perspective. She could smell them so vividly and she could feel the pollen on her feet. The Dragon popped back in her head and her stomach dropped. She felt lonely, but didn’t know why. “I don’t miss his lessons, that’s for sure.” She stared down at the flowers and absently started touching the petals and whispering bits of a lullabye she remembered from years ago. It was about a big garden and the kind old woman that looked after it. She’d be that old woman someday, she knew it. “I miss his voice though.” she sighed as she finished singing.  
The flower she’d been touching had grown several inches and blossomed. It surprised her a bit and delighted the bee. She was starting to understand how to use her magic, but was still startled when it flowed out of her without her knowing it. She scooped up the flower with the bee in it and stuck it in her hair. “I’m tired of sitting around.” she snatched up Jaga’s book.  
“I’m tired of seeing his mopey face” she stomped down the stairs.  
“I’m tired of feeling bad for him.” she threw open the door of the kitchen.  
Nieshka set the book on the table and flipped through until she landed on the spell she’d found the first time going through the book. It stuck out in her memory because it seemed so wholesome and pure. “To brighten someone’s spirits” was scrawled across the top of the page. “When loved ones need a little more than kind words, brew this and bring them a smile.”  
It was a little vague, but very simple. Cinnamon and lavender and jam or wine or some other sweet mixture warmed up and sung a happy memory. Nieshka put the spices in honey and sung the lullaby about the little old lady and her garden. She saw herself in the garden tending to the flowers. It made her feel happy and peaceful. She tried to imagine The Dragon there in the garden with her. She knew that if he gave it a chance he’d enjoy it too, even if it would get his robes dirty. The dragon in her song smiled. It wasn’t so much of a memory as a prophecy or a wish. She could feel the warm feelings carried on the magic flowing out of her and into her concoction. The smell wafted up and made her mouth crack into an uncontrollable smile. A little giggle escaped her lips. It smelled so good. She couldn’t resist taking a sip. The warmth started in her chest and radiated out. It made her feel bubbly and elated. She knew deep down that something about this idea wasn't quite right. Part of her told her like this might be akin to poisoning him, but the other much louder part told her to finish plating the dinner and slap that potion right in his puckered face. 

She poured some of the honey concoction on the pastry she’d made for dessert and put the rest in a drinking goblet. After shooting the bee a conspiratorial look, she bolted up the stairs to the library. The potion was making her a little too giddy. She didn’t want to be conspicuous so she gathered herself and entered. She quietly set the tray down and moved back towards the door without a word. “What’s this? Did you use magic to make this?” The Dragon asked pointing at the pastry.  
He had a questioning look on his face that worried Nieshka. “Yes. I messed up the first one and just fixed it with the spell you taught me rather than remaking it. I thought you’d be proud.” she said somewhat defensively.  
The Dragon was a bit taken aback. Nieshka didn’t want to expose herself so she left in an overly dramatic offended huff. The Dragon didn’t give her a second glance. He never really had a large interest in her dramatics and she was relying on this to get her out the door.  
Once she was outside though it was eating her up not knowing whether he touched the food. She could feel herself buzzing with anticipation. Literally buzzing. She felt very light and small and noticed that she was hovering beside her own head. She was seeing things from her bee’s perspective. It was alarming, but exciting. She didn’t waste a lot of time questioning it. The Dragon had his sentinels, she had her bees. It made complete sense to her. She flew through the crack of the partially opened door and hovered above one of the bookshelves close to the fire. The Dragon was right in front of her. She saw him slump down and rub his temples. “Am I doing the right thing?” He said absently flipping through a book.  
“I knew this potion was impossible when the king first asked for it. I’m wasting my time.” He picked up the goblet. “And I’m wasting hers.” he took a gulp.  
He looked down at the cup in surprise, then took another sip. He giggled. Nieshka audibly gasped and was shocked back into her own body. She couldn’t believe what she saw. The Dragon was now laughing loud enough to be heard out in the hall.  
Nieshka burst into the room not really knowing what to expect. She saw The Dragon take another gulp from the goblet. She ripped it out of his hands worrying how drinking that much would affect him. “What is IN that?” he asked throwing his head back and looking at Nieshka with a wild eye. She did not see this ending well. He slid off the edge of the chair and pulled several of the decorative pillows onto the floor in front of the fire. He snuggled down on top of them and stared at the fire humming. After a few second he looked back at her and patted the ground next to him. “Come join me.” he said playfully.  
Nieshka knew he would never act like this normally and if he knew what he was doing he would be furious. But she didn’t know what to do the reverse the effects, so she just drained the goblet and plopped down on the pillows beside him.

The Dragon seemed exceptionally giddy. He kept humming. It turned into a song. A cheerful and wandering song in a language that she didn’t understand. Nevertheless she enjoyed listening to his voice. It’d been days since he’s really spoken to him and this was the first time she’d ever heard him sing. She glanced back at the fire and noticed shapes dancing in the flames. She looked back at The Dragon and he winked at her. It wasn’t just a song, it was a spell. He was casting a spell with a song, just like she’d done. She looked back at the flames. Four dancing figures formed a ring and danced to the rhythm. Two let go of each other and the the line of figures started bouncing out of the fireplace towards Nieshka. She jerked her leg away from them when they started getting close. The Dragon put his hand on her calf stilling her motion. She looked up to see him nodding reassuringly. The fire dancers spun up in the air and landed on her thigh. They didn’t burn. They emanated a warmth that made her feel cozy and light headed.  
Nieshka couldn’t take her eyes off of the little fat dancer. It was rounder and less coordinated than the other ones. It hobbled around and tried to keep pace. It jumped in the air and floated off course right towards her face. She leaned away from it and bumped into The Dragon’s chest. She looked up him slightly embarrassed, but found it to be even more comfortable. He glanced down at her with a comforting smile then reached his arm out and caught the blabby little dancer in his palm. It smacked into his hand and lost its shape. Nieshka joined the song. She sang the song her village sang at the festival when they danced around the courtyard after the feast. The dancer gathered itself and floated down to its fellow dancers. More dancers appeared all around the library. They spun and bobbed in looping circuits through the air. It was beautiful to watch.  
She felt the connection she felt when casting the rose illusion with The Dragon. It was softer this time though. More comforting and complete than powerful and urgent. She leaned into him and started humming rather than singing. She took a deep breath and smelled the deep and old smell of the library clinging to his clothing. She smelled the spicy and crackling scent of potions and the magic imbued within. He began humming too. The fire dancers dimmed and started to fade. The connection didn’t fade though. She was comfortable enough to tell him anything. The Dragon turned to face her. He hummed and smiled and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. He picked a stray curl off of her shoulder and twirled it between his fingers absentmindedly. This level of familiarity was so strange and intoxicating. She turned to look into his eyes and noticed a softness that she hadn’t seen before. A softness she had refused to see in her captor. She turned her head away and leaned back into him. He began to tell a story about a kingdom that escaped the grasp of the wood by learning how to live underwater. The fire dancers sparkled back to life and started acting out the parts of the story. The Dragon continued to play with Nieshka’s hair as he spoke and she fell asleep listening to his voice and watching the fire figures float above her. 

Nieshka woke up before the Dragon. They had fallen back on the pillows and she was sidled up right next to him with her hand resting on his chest. She pulled her hand away slowly so as not to disturb him. Seeing him so happy the night before was odd, but refreshing. She looked at his sleeping face and wondered how he would react. She imagined it would be some sort of soft kinship forming, not the abrupt anger and embarrassment that took over him when he woke up and shot him out the door in a fuming bolt.  
He snapped up so fast that it threw her backwards. He didn’t look back at her and that gave her some comfort. She was still in a haze from the concoction that it made perfect sense for them to be natural friends now rather than two people who were not close sharing an intimate moment. Now it clicked. She remembered being hesitant the night before, but throwing that feeling to the side. The Dragon wasn’t an idiot. He would know instantly that she cast a spell on his drink. She was in for a worse week that the one before.

“I can’t believe you drugged me!!” he shouted.  
“I didn’t drug you. It was a potion to lift your spirits. I thought it might help because you’ve been so--” Nieshka was cut off.  
“You fed me a POTION?! Did you even know what it did?!? Did you even know the outcome?!?! Had you ever used it?! No! I’m sure none of that crossed your mind! Your first attempt at a potion and you feed it to me without any warning!! The Dragon continued.  
“It DID make you feel better.” Nieshka pouted.  
“And you lied about it! Saying I should be proud of you for using magic!!” The Dragon scoffed.  
“Well I did use magic. It did turn out the way I had intended. And it DID make you act more like a PERSON!” Nieska retorted. “You’ve been slouching around the library for a week. You barely say a word. You don’t even believe in what you’re doing!”  
“What? How did you--. What did I say last night?” he asked in a panicked tone.  
“Not much we mainly just sang.” she mumbled.  
“I wasn’t singing. I was casting a spell.” he stated defensively.  
“You have a beautiful voice.” Nieshka said with a sly smile.  
The Dragon looked at her indignantly and swept out of the room. Nieshka let out a huge sigh. “We’re doing an entire chapter of spells tonight to make up lost time!” The Dragon called behind him.  
Nieshka groaned and sank into her chair.

The metal groaned in Nieshka’s hands and finally gave way, but her thumb shot straight through the plate and came out the other side. “You have to be consistent with you pressure and your pronunciation.” The Dragon said with an unkind note in his words. “You’ll end up with a grate not a crown.”  
He’d been even more condescending and distant since the night she gave him the honey mixture, but at least he wasn’t moping around anymore. It was nice to have someone to talk to even if that person was barking orders and just being a general ass. “Well I was always better suited for the kitchen than a throne. This grate will work just fine.” Nieska said as she shoved her thumb through the gold plate again making another hole.  
“Are you even trying?! Crying Heavens! You’re the worst student I’ve ever met!” he shouted.  
“It can’t be all my fault. I have a horrible teacher!” Nieshka shouted back.  
“Why are you like this?!”  
“Why are YOU like THIS?!! Ever since the night we watched the fire you been so hostile and unyielding when you teach. I thought I hated lessons before, but now you’re just unbearable.”  
“Well that is entirely your fault for poisoning me!”  
“We ENJOYED ourselves! You might not have recognized the feeling because you’d never experienced it before, but what we had that night was called FUN!!”  
“We don’t need fun. We need to prepare for the war.”  
“I might die of boredom before the armies even get here. You’re practically pushing me out the window. You took me away from everyone I’ve ever loved and force my only interactions with another person to be with you. I get that what we’re doing is important, but I need to feel like a person. I need to feel like I’m not a prisoner. Why do you even take girls from the Spindle if you don’t even like being around people.” Nieshka shut the book on metal manipulation and dropped the plate on the table.  
“Nieshka.” The Dragon said with a tone of remorse.  
She didn’t look back. She walked out of the library and up to her room feeling hurt and vulnerable, but mostly betrayed. Her hostile attitude was wearing away her edges. She looked out the window of her room and remembered her home. She let out a heavy sob and laid her head down in the the small garden. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she was woken up by a soft buzzing. Three little bees were poking around in the flowers and one had bounced against her forehead. “Hey friend. Or I guess friends.” she said sleepily rubbing her eyes.  
The little bee started to bob up and down happily. She was doing a little dance. She somehow knew that the bee was telling her about where the best flowers were. It was cute. She was listening to the little buzzes and saw through the bee where the flowers were. She saw all of the little stops her friend had made that day. Lots of flowers. Hanging out at the base of the tower. Flying around the library. Then she saw The Dragon. He was sitting in the chair by the fire with his head resting in his hands. She didn’t know if she should be watching, but her anger at him fueled her determination to see his pain. He looked up at the dying fire and started humming. A little dancer hopped up into the air and landed in his hand. He looked down at it and sighed then snuffed it and stood up walking towards the bee. The bee flew out the window and up to Nieshka’s garden.  
Nieshka pulled her attention away from the bee. She sighed and flopped down onto the bed. It was just about dinner time so she went down to the kitchen. She hadn’t quite made up her mind whether she would cook a meal for them both or just take something up to her room to eat when she ran into The Dragon on the stairs on the way up to her room. “I was just coming up to discuss you training.” he said in a jerky disjointed way.  
Nieshka folded her arms and glared at him. “If that’s all you had to say I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to hear it.” she said pushing past him.  
He caught her arm and she stumbled falling towards him. He caught her. She pushed him away and stomped down the stairs. She began making dinner. He came up beside her and started chopping an apple. She continues kneading dough in silence once he finished with the apple, he picked up another. They continued in silence. “You don’t need to cut anymore.” she said curtly.  
The Dragon looked up and put the apple back. “There are only two of us. We don’t need that many apples.” she said.  
“We don’t even need to cook any of this though.” the Dragon said.  
“I like to though. It’s calming.”  
“I know. That’s why I’m helping.” he said with a smile.  
She smiled back at him. Then she cast a spell on the food making the preparation go much faster.”What are you doing?” he asked.  
“I’m casting a spell because I know you like it.” she said.

They took the dinner up to the library and ate in the chairs by the fire. “I’m sorry about the how I’ve been acting. You deserve a better teacher.’ he said.  
“I shouldn’t have said the things I said.” Nieshka whispered.  
“No I needed to hear it.” he said.


End file.
